DOE declares green energy auction of 2,000 MW a success

THE Green Energy Auction Program involving the auction of 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy was a success, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said over the weekend.

Cusi said the Department of Energy’s Green Energy Auction Bids Evaluation and Awards Committee conducted the first GEAP auction round on Friday.

Twenty-four qualified bidders participated in the auction through an electronic platform. Eight companies bid for solar; eight for wind; seven for run-of-river hydro; and one for biomass capacity.

The GEAP sets the benchmark for the future auction rounds as the resulting green energy tariff will reflect the value of electricity, according to the DOE.

Cusi said the first green energy auction, “is a significant step in encouraging more power generation investments in renewable energy, while protecting the interest of Filipino consumers—a testament to the country’s commitment to developing indigenous and clean sources of energy at competitive prices”.

He said GEAP showed the common aspiration of energy stakeholders to inject more renewables as the country moves towards more sustainable supply sources to meet electricity demand.

The DOE auctioned 900 MW solar capacity for Luzon, 260 MW for Visayas and 100 MW for Mindanao. For wind, DOE auctioned 360 MW for Luzon and 20 MW for Visayas. It also auctioned 80 MW of hydro capacity for Luzon and 50 MW for Mindanao.

The agency bid out 60 MW of biomass capacity for Luzon, 120 MW for Visayas and 50 MW for Mindanao.

The Energy Regulatory Commission earlier set the Green Energy Auction Reserve for solar at P3.6779 per kilowatt-hour, wind at P6.0584 per kWh, biomass at P5.0797 per kWh and runof-river at P5.4913 per kWh.

All qualified bidders placed their bid capacity and price offers through the electronic bidding platform operated by the DOE.

The GEA committee will then rank the bids from the lowest to the highest and stack the offers to the respective technologies. The DOE, through the committee, plans to declare the winning bidders this month.